The Good Left Undone
by shadow's cat
Summary: Shikamaru saves Temari's life. fluff and angst oneshot


**A/N: **Hi there! This is my first Naruto fanfic! And, I'm awful new to the whole Naruto world. So, if it pleases you, don't crucify me. Normally, I don't write romance 'cause I suck at it. But, hey, it was worth a shot. Lyrics are from Rise Against's _The Good Left Undone._

* * *

Temari came downstairs, cracking her knuckles. "Another beautiful day in the soaking wet rainforest!"

"You're crazy." Gaara replied, not turning around.

"Look who's talking." Kankuro muttered under his breath. But, Gaara heard; Gaara hears everything. "I was just joking! Gaara please! I was kidding-" Kankuro begged as sand surrounded him.

` "Aww, leave him be. He didn't mean anything by it." Temari said. Gaara gave her the death-stare, but let the sand go.

"Saved by Temari. Again." He monotoned in the way Gaara does.

"You'd better watch yourself. One day I won't be here to protect you." Temari commented evenly, walking out of the room.

***

"Shikamaru?"

"Hn?" Naruto and Shikamaru were laying in the grass, staring up at the clouds.

"Do you believe in angels?"

"Huh? Angels? Whaddya mean, Naruto?"

"Like, angels… with the wings and halos,"

"Nah. You?"

"Ummm… no."

"Naruto, Shikamaru,"

"Kakashi-sensei! Took you long enough to get here." Naruto teased.

"Something's happened in Suna." He said, all business. Naruto's mind instantly filled with his snapshots from his battle with Gaara. Shikamaru's filled with his battle with Temari.

"What do you mean, 'something happened'? Like, Orochimaru something happened? Or, Itachi something happened?" Naruto urged.

"Itachi." Kakashi stated, giving the simple answer. Naruto's eyes widened. Shikamaru stood with his hands stuffed in his pockets, staring off into space.

"What does this have to do with us?" He inquired, praying Kakashi wasn't going to send them on a mission.

"Excellent question, Shikamaru. See, Suna has asked our help, and because we have a treaty with them, we have to oblige. So we're just going to send two jounin and a few genin."

"Who gets to go?" Naruto pestered.

"Well, I wouldn't be telling you this if you didn't get to go, now would I? Asuma and I decided to bring you, Shikamaru, Kiba, and Choji."

"ME? Go to the Sand Village? What a drag…" Shikamaru whined characteristically.

"Believe it! You picked all the best, right?!"

"No, Naruto, we picked the worst." Naruto looked at Kakashi, crestfallen. "Go inform the others who are going. We leave at noon." It didn't take long for everyone to gather.

"Ready?" Kakashi asked the group. Everyone nodded.

The group was about half-way there when they came across some of your average jounin assassins. But they turned and ran once they saw how outnumbered they were.

"Some assassins," Asuma muttered. Night fell quickly on the six leaf-nin.

"Asuma?"

"Yeah, I think this is a good place to stop." He answered Kakashi's unasked question. The four boys breathed a collective sigh of relief. Everyone took a place under a tree; all except for Naruto and Shikamaru.

"Hey, Shikamaru,"

"Hn?" He answered absent-mindedly.

"I… uh, hope those Sand guys are okay…" There was a lot more to that statement; things Naruto would never say.

"I know what you mean." Shikamaru nodded, climbing up the tree everyone was under. He laid himself on a branch and fell asleep. Naruto sat in front of the group and pulled out a balloon. If he couldn't sleep, he might as well practice some jutsu. But as he looked at the sleeping genin and half-asleep jounin, he decided to move a little bit away from the tree. He concentrated on the leaf at the center of his palm even though it was no longer there. He spun his chakra as fast and hard as he could.

"Temari…" A faint sound came form the tree, and Naruto's balloon popped.

"Aww, c'mon! Really?" He hissed, walking over to the tree.

"Temari…" The sound came again, a desperate whisper. Naruto quickly realized it was Shikamaru talking, and that he was thrashing around.

'_Oh shit, he's gonna fall! Oh shit, I'm not gonna catch him!' _Despite Naruto's thoughts, when Shikamaru did fall, Naruto caught him. He carried him away from the others and laid him down. "Hey, Shikamaru," Naruto shook him awake.

"They're gonna kill her!" Shikamaru screamed in Naruto's face, still half in his nightmare.

***

"What do you want with me?!" Temari smacked her fist on the table. No one answered and she put her head in her hands.

***

"Gaara, I'm worried about Temari," Kankuro said, nervously approaching the subject. Gaara didn't answer him and Kankuro walked around to face him; Gaara turned away. "Gaara? Are you… crying?" Kankuro asked, astounded.

"Go away!" Was the angry response.

"Gaara-"

"I said, go away!" He yelled, annunciating each word.

"No! Look at me," Gaara turned to face his suddenly defiant brother. Gaara's tears unnerved Kankuro.

"Do you… do you think she meant it?" Gaara asked suddenly.

"Meant what?" Overcome with a weird and sudden desire to protect his little brother, Kankuro kneeled next to him.

"The last thing she said." Gaara closed his eyes.

"One day I won't be here to protect you." Gaara and Kankuro said at the same time.

"Nah, she couldn't have meant it." He answered, more to himself.

***

"Shikamaru! Snap out of it! Whose going to kill who?" Naruto yelled quietly, shaking him by the shoulders.

"Sorry about that. Don't worry about it." And with that Shikamaru rolled over and grudgingly fell asleep. He opened his eyes to find himself in a clear blue ocean. Temari stood on the shore with the sun shinning behind her.

"Shikamaru!" She called, his name sounding like honey from her.

"Temari!" He called back, starting to swim towards her. But, as in most dreams, he seemed to be stuck in one of the great paradoxes: the Torment of Tantalus. Every time he swam closer to her, she got farther away. "Temari!"

"Shikamaru! Come find me." With that she disappeared leaving Shikamaru with pictures of where she was being kept captive. _'They're keeping her in broad daylight!' _Shikamaru took a deep breath to call for her, but instead he got a lungful of water. Again this happened until Shikamaru found himself drowning. Then he found himself being woken up by Naruto for the second time that night.

"Maybe I should just stay awake."

"Yeah! Maybe!" Naruto agreed shortly. So he went back to his balloon, and Shikamaru sat with his back to the tree. _'I've got to tell Asuma-sensei about where they're keeping Temari. Who am I kidding? Why should they care? We didn't get called on a mission to go save Temari. Or did we? They never told us what this mission was. But why would they want to go waste time finding a girl they don't know? This is something I've got to do by myself. What a drag.' _Shikamaru pulled out a kunai and turned to face the tree. _'I might as well leave them a message so they don't waste their time looking for me.' _On the tree he carved the letters 'T' and 'S' inside a heart. In between the letters was a cross. _'That's for you, Naruto' _Shikamaru thought, getting up. He looked at Naruto concentrating on the balloon, and silently leapt through the forest.

***

"This is obnoxious." Temari muttered, looking at her fan, which they put tauntingly close to her. She was trapped in some sort of paralysis jutsu. Well, actually, he legs were trapped in some sort of paralysis jutsu. Once or twice she'd thought about dragging herself to her fan, but there was just no way. They would kill her. Temari suddenly felt the jutsu being released. She seized the moment, grabbing her fan. Shikamaru burst through the door.

_In fields where nothing grew but weeds, I found a flower at my feet, Bending there in my direction, I wrapped a hand around its stem, I pulled until the roots gave in, Finding there what I'd been missing,_

"Shikamaru?!" Temari asked astounded.

"Not now, more guards coming. I've got a plan." As he said that, the guards came in. He formed instant hand signs, and captured the guards in a shadow. "Now!" He commanded. She popped open her fan and blew a large gust of wind at the guards. Just before the wind reached them, Shikamaru released the jutsu, sending them flying. Temari and Shikamaru did this for a few hours, and more kept coming.

"Don't they learn?" Temari panted. It was then they simultaneously collapsed from chakra loss.

"Temari?" Shikamaru managed.

"I love you." She answered, watching as more guards filed in the door to kill them.

"No fair." He gasped. "That's what I was going to say." They both blacked out.

_But I know… So I tell myself, I tell myself it's wrong. There's a point we pass from which we can't return. _

_I felt the cold rain of the coming storm._

***

Kakashi placed a kunai against a guards throat, stopping him cold.

"Good job, Kiba." Kakashi thought back to this morning, when they realized Shikamaru was gone. Without Kiba and Akamaru they wouldn't have found him.

"I'm surprised they're still alive!" Kiba answered. "They… are still alive, aren't they?" Asuma and Kakashi laughed.

"They'll be fine after a stay in the hospital." And with that, the two teachers picked up the two unconscious kids.

***

Shikamaru found himself back in the ocean, drowning. "Shikamaru," Temari called, waking him up.

_All because of you, I haven't slept in so long. When I do I dream of drowning in the ocean,_

_Longing for the shore where I can lay my head down, I'll follow your voice, all you have to do is shout it out._

"I'm awake!" He said. "Where am I?" He asked, looking around.

"A hospital. Naruto and some others found us."

"You're trying to tell me I'm alive?" He looked at her, curled up on him, in his bed.

"No. What I'm _trying_ to tell you is that you died, and heaven is a hospital." Temari answered sarcastically.

"What a drag." Temari laughed.

"Do you know how long you've been asleep?"

"Feels like forever…" He confessed, thinking back to his dream. Drowning, again. "I'm just glad you woke me up."

"Anytime," He felt her sigh against him.

"What's wrong?"

"Well, it's either the fact we almost died, or the fact that _you_ had to save me, or the fact that this hospital is such a _drag_."

"Are you making fun of me?" "Mmhmm. Really, though, I wanna get out of here."

"Then let's go. But, you have to do what I want to do."

"Do I wanna know?" Temari asked, sitting up to look at him.

"C'mon," He climbed out of his bed and staggered. "Asleep way to long." He mumbled under his breath. Temari smirked, slinging his arm around her shoulders in a way that made it seem as though it'd been his idea.

"Where to?" She asked, as they walked.

"The hill over by the training field."

"Mm," She nodded, and they walked. Shikamaru eventually got the feeling back in his legs and his arm moved down to her waist.

"Now what?" She asked when the got to the top of the small hill.

"Cloud watching. It's one of my favorite things. That, and shogi, and go."

"You're joking," Temari started.

"No. Why?"

"I love shogi."

"Liar,"

"No! Really!" She said laying on the grass with her hands beneath her head. "And I'll betcha I could beat you."

"Chea, right. Not after falling for that stupid trick during the chunin exams." He laid down next to her.

"Mmhmm. That was a fluke."

"A fluke! You're cute,"

"I know." They both cracked up. A comfortable silence followed until Temari broke it.

"I never did thank you." She remarked.

"For what?"

"Oh, I don't know, saving my life."

"It was such a pain."

"Wasn't it? Hey, you know what I wanna go do?"

"If I did, you wouldn't have to ask, would you?"

"Fair enough. Let's go play shogi." She said, standing up. She held out her hand to help him up.

"Oh really?" He asked grabbing her hand.

"Yea really." She answered sarcastically. And off the went to Shikamaru's house.

"They're gonna come get me today." She sighed during the middle of the game.

"I figured as much." He watched her tug at one of her pigtails. Sighing, he walked around behind her and undid them, watching her hair fall perfectly around her face. "Better."

"Such a pain," She huffed, making her move. "I win." She remarked nonchalantly, becoming the female version of Shikamaru himself.

"Holy shit, Temari. Still a fluke."

"A cute one?"

"Of course."

_***_

"Hey! Shikamaru!"

"Hn?"

"What's the deal with Gaara's sister? Her hair's different, and she keeps saying 'what a drag' like you. It's so weird."

"What are you talking about Naruto? Is that really happening?"

"Yeah! What, you're telling me you don't notice?"

_Inside my hands these petals browned, _

_Dried up, fallen to the ground, But it was already too late now._

***

"Temari!" Gaara screeched, upon arriving at the Leaf-Village.

"Kankuro! What did you do to Gaara?!"

"What's with the hair Temari?" Kankuro ignored the question, asking his own.

"Oh, you know." She answered, looking down at Gaara, who still clung to her. "Hey," She started, peeling Gaara off her. "I'll be right back and then we can leave."

"Where are you going?" Kankuro asked.

"If it concerned you and your nosy self, then I would've told you, wouldn't I've?" She snapped, turning and walking back into Shikamaru's house. "Shikamaru?"

"Leavin' already?" He wondered, running his hands through her hair.

"Mmhmm. But…"

"Hn?"

"I… don't want to go."

"And I don't want you to. But, you have to." He reasoned.

"I love you!" She blurted. Shikamaru laughed.

"I love you too. But, you have to go. And, I know it's a drag, but put your hair back up. It freaks your brothers out." Slowly, Shikamaru convinced her to go back to her mean, sarcastic self, with spiky hair, and ambition.

_I pushed my fingers through the earth, Returned this flower to the dirt, so it could live. I walked away now._

_But I know… not a day goes by that I don't feel this burn. There's a point we pass from which we can't return. I felt the cold rain of the coming storm._ He walked her to the door, sending her off with her brothers. He waved, and she waved back. Once she was gone, Shikamaru trudged to his bedroom, closed the door, and slid down it, his head in his hands. He knew he wouldn't sleep tonight.

_All because of you, I haven't slept in so long, When I do I dream of drowning in the ocean, Longing for the shore where I can lay my head down, I'll follow your voice, all you have to do is shout it out._

And so it was, he did dream of Temari, the ocean, and drowning. But he also dreamt about their teamwork, waking up with he laying on him, and her winning shogi.

_All because of you… All because of you… All because of you, I haven't slept in so long. When I do I dream of drowning in the ocean, Longing for the shore where I can lay my head down, Inside these arms of yours_. _All because of you, I believe in angels. Not the kind with wings, no, not the kind with halos, The kind that bring you home, when home becomes a strange place. I'll follow your voice, all you have to do is shout it out._

"Yeah, Naruto. I do believe in angels."


End file.
